Case histories and their importance - Aspergillus and Aspergillosis

Submitted by Aspergillus Administrator on 19 December 2008

Case histories are the detailed descriptions of the diagnosis, treatment & outcomes of specific patients suffering from unusual illnesses. They can offer a large amount of information on unusual illnesses though tend to be very specific in their applicability.
Aspergillosis is quite rare in many of its forms and we have a database of more than 70 case histories on the Aspergillus website which we hope provide a lot of important information to medical practitioners looking to treat similar cases.

Some case histories were/are published in mainstream medical journals but many more (1500 in 2008) are now published in dedicated ‘open access’ journals such as the Journal of Medical Case Reports and its sister journal Cases Journal.

Biomed Central (the organisation behind the publication of the latter two journals) has announced the following event:

Case reports and the importance of stories in health care
We are hosting a one-day academic symposium on case reports and the importance of stories in health care, and we invite you to join us. The event will take place on Friday 15th May in central London, and will be chaired by our Editors-in-Chief, Professor Michael Kidd and Dr Richard Smith.

Confirmed speakers include:
Sir David Weatherall, Emeritus Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford
Ann McPherson, Medical Director of Health Talk Online/DiPEX
Jeffrey Aronson, Reader in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Oxford
Geoffrey Pasvol, Professor of Infection & Tropical Medicine at Imperial College London
Brian Hurwitz, Chair of Medicine and the Arts, King’s College London
Paul Hodgkin, Founder and Chief Executive of Patient Opinion
Tom Jefferson, Cochrane Collaboration
Sir Iain Chalmers, James Lind Library

Attendees will hear topics ranging from the history of case reports, to how case reports fit with evidence-based medicine, reporting of adverse drug interactions, how patients can be helped by case reports, the internet’s role in the future of healthcare, and more. As well as the strong academic programme, the event will be an excellent networking opportunity.

More details will follow, but please contact us now to register your interest and secure a place.